Mix Pudding. Chill until set. Fold in whipped cream and chocolate chips. Construct the sandwich however you see fit. Either laying 24 graham cracker squares out and topping them with 2-3 TBL pudding mixture and other cracker, or doing then individually on seran wrap. Enjoy!

Monday, June 27, 2011

God is something...this guy's from Alaska (my brother lived in Alaska.) half of his church is white!

God is good. Is must be comforting to have familiar people around.

My beautiful sister-in-love with Marine.

Now for my brother's report:

I hope this finds you well.

I just wanted to give you a quick up date on what God is doing here.
Our Wed night services have been the best attended so far.
Tonight we had 14 in all and two saved.
Two young men came back after Saturday nights movie outreach.
They got out before we could get there pics.
One man came back the second Wed in a row - he has just moved down
from Alaska and was talking to the people we rent the building from about
a church and they told him to come to ours. So that explains the 28 year old
white guy in A. Samoa - he said he is going to stay - and keep coming to church.

Another women The other white lady in middle of group pic (Besides my wife)
Tish has come twice and is fruit from our second movie outreach at our house.
She brought out two Samoans A mom and daughter -
they are the two on the far left of the group pic.
And then Marine & her daughter (Saved in Western Samoa @ our church there)
They are on right side of group pic. have become a great joy to us and have begun
to really help out.
I will keep the reports coming as God continues to build His church here.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Our daughter will be getting her gums cut. Yes, cut. It seems that a canceled appointment (fam. emergency) lead to cavity, which lead to tooth being pulled, which lead to space maintainer, which lead to some calloused gums, which has lead to needing to cut some of it off. Did you follow?

Our son has a small jaw (my side of the family), and the potential for a big under bite.
He is going to be getting an enhancer (forgot the real name.) then braces. This is to hopefully prevent him needing jaw surgery in his 20's.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

I know what you're thinking..."Joy, how can a strong-willed child bring you joy?" or "My strong-willed kid brings me more gray hairs than joy."

Let me explain. We have a pretty okay, at times very, strong-willed teen who is a tremendous blessing. If you would have told us this when she was say 6 months, 1 1/2 years, and so on we would have thought you a little too optimistic. Our daughter really threw us for a loop. She wanted to do everything all.by.her.self.all.of.the.time. She had a mind of her own and was not afraid to let everyone know. She got kicked out of nursery more than once. There were more days then I'd like to admit that I felt like the worst mom on the planet. I read all sorts of books on strong-willed children and she really didn't fit in the pages. She really put us to the test.

People would judge us, give us advice and make comments like "my child will not act that way." Today, the comments we hear are nothing but good. Today, when I see strong-willed kids and I say a little prayer for the parents and then I look at how great that child can become.

While this post is not about my hubby and I or our parenting skills, rather, it's about Gods true grace. Being a child who did whatever my parents said with just a look, I didn't know how to handle such a strong child. She came out having a mind of her own. I have to say that it was prayer, lots and lots of prayer, consistency and the grace of God that got us where we are today. I remember praying that God would guide her strong-will towards Him. If she would use it for Him, nothing would stop her. And that has held up to this day.

Just yesterday our daughter and I were talking about a situation where her peers where following the crowd, doing some things they knew weren't right. She commented "I don't know why people follow the crowd. I usually do the opposite of what everyone else is doing." Which is true. She also has a big heart. She has always been the one to go and play with the lone kid at the playground. She is still strong-willed and sometimes we know we aren't going to change her mind, we know what battles to fight. Thankfully they aren't many. Some battles we have been worn out winning, but looking back they were SO worth it.

So the blessings and joys:

When their will is on the right path nothing is going to stop them.

When their will is good, they will influence others.

They will make a stand for what is right even if it costs them deeply.

They know what is right and the benefit of doing right.

As a mom, I got closer to God those many times crying out for help.

We get to see God's grace on our lives, filling in and covering our many mistakes, making a beautiful young lady despite us.
When she wants to do something you can count on her to finish it and give it her all.

We don't have to worry about:

how she dresses

how is treats others (for the most part)

going along with the crowd

and much more

If you have a strong-willed kid or two, oh how I pray for you. Learn to pick your battles and stick to your guns to win them. Be consistent and pray for God's grace, His hand, His guidance. He made your child that way for a reason and He gave them to you for a reason. And laugh, have a sense of humor. You really will look back on those long hard days and laugh.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

I know that these don't compare to the fires in AZ., but this is like the 4th or 5th local fire, second in these mountains. This is what we saw in the way home from Sam's. I know some folks who had to go around the mountains to get home a whole 2 hours out of the way. This is the only way in and out.

Monday, June 13, 2011

A few days ago I wrote that I'd love to make our lemon thyme into something.

A reader suggested mixing it with equal parts sugar and oil.

So here's my attempt at it.

Hopefully the photos are self explanatory.

The blender idea didn't work. I put 1 teaspoon olive oil and the herbs in...not enough stuff to do any good.

So, I chopped them as fine as I could and mixed it all by hand, or finger.

The mixture of 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon sugar and herbs was nice. It made my hands nice and soft. Though after my shower the smell of olive oil was stronger than the herby smell. So I added some lemon zest. Which really didn't make that much difference.

I got a wild hair and tried the oil/sugar with coffee grounds (very fine).

That was nice too. The olive oil smell lasted longer than the coffee.

I tried the herb mixture again that night and the sugar had dissolved leaving my hands very sticky.